NAU Football Opens Chris Ball Era with Thursday Night Showdown vs. Missouri State

 

GAME 1: RV/RV Northern Arizona (0-0) vs. Missouri State (0-0)

DATE	Thursday, August 29, 2019
TIME	6 p.m. MST
LOCATION	J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome (10,000) | Flagstaff, Ariz.
TV	NAU-TV & Pluto TV (Channel 539) / Tape Delayed on Your Phoenix CW (Saturday/7 p.m. MST)
TICKETS	CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS - STARTING AT $15
RADIO	Flagstaff: 93.5 FM & AM 930 KAFF Country Legends
	Prescott: 97.9 FM The Eagle
	Phoenix: NBC Sports KDUS 1060 AM
	Tucson: ESPN Radio 104.9 FM/1490 AM
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LIVE STATS	Northern Arizona - Missouri State Stat Feed
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NAU FOOTBALL GAME NOTES VS. MISSOURI STATE (PDF)

NAU OPENING DRIVE

• Thursday's game vs. Missouri State marks the first for Chris Ball as head coach.
• NAU will be opening a season on a Thursday night at home for the first time since 2010 when they hosted Western New Mexico.
• The 'Jacks last weeknight game was on August 30, 2013 when they played at Arizona on Friday night.
• NAU senior quarterback Case Cookus boasts 7,968 career passing yards and is 32 shy of hitting 8,000 for his career. 
• NAU's coaching staff boasts a total of 74 postseason appearances and nearly 200 years of collegiate experience.
• The Lumberjacks return 20 starters and 35 letterwinners from last season's squad.
• This marks the first season since NAU Football has had a first-year head coach since 1998.
• The Lumberjacks boast a total of seven new assistant coaches on staff this season.
• A total of 56 new players have joined the roster since Chris Ball was named head coach on Dec. 10, 2018.

NAU OPENS CHRIS BALL ERA ON THURSDAY NIGHT AT SKYDOME

• The Lumberjacks will kickoff the 2019 campaign and with a special Thursday night kickoff vs. Missouri State beginning at 6 p.m. MST at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
• The game also marks the first under new head coach Chris Ball - who becomes the 30th head coach to hold the reigns of the Lumberjack program. 
• Thursday's game will be televised on NAU TV and Pluto TV (channel 239) with Mitch Strohman (play-by-play), Kevin Stephens (analyst) and Ryan Peretti (sideline) on the call.  
• The game will also shown on a tape-delayed basis on Your Phoenix  on Saturday, August 31 beginning at 7 p.m. MST.
• The Lumberjack Radio network will also broadcast Thursday's clash with Missouri State beginning with the pregame show at 5 p.m. MST.  
• The 'Jacks will be facing the Bears for the second consecutive season as well as the second time in program history when they square off on Saturday.  Missouri State handed NAU a 40-8 defeat in Springfield last season on Sept. 15 in a contest that featured 11 turnovers.

RARE THURSDAY NIGHT KICKOFF FOR THE 'JACKS

• Thursday's game vs. Missouri State will mark the first time that the Lumberjacks have played a season opener at home on a Thursday night since Sept. 10, 2010 when it defeated Western New Mexico 48-0 on the day before Friday.
• NAU opened the 2012 season on the road on Thursday, August 30 at Arizona State, which marks the most recent time it has played on a Thursday.  The 'Jacks dropped that game by a 63-6 margin.
• The 'Jacks last weeknight game came on August 30, 2013 when they played at Arizona on Friday night and lost 35-0.

NAU - MISSOURI STATE OPEN BIG SKY-MVC CHALLENGE ON THURSDAY

• NAU will take on Missouri State in the opening showdown of the 10-game Big Sky-Missouri Valley Challenge Series at the Skydome on Thursday night.
• The Lumberjacks will take part in two games during the Big Sky-MVC Challenge as they also travel to battle Illinois State in Normal on Sept. 21.
• The series is entering its third year.  In 2018, the MVFC won the series, 5-3. 
• From 2013-18, the institutions in the two conferences played one another 55 times. During that span, the MVFC holds the advantage although the Big Sky and MVFC split the eight meetings in 2016, 4-4.
• The MVFC holds the all-time series advantage with a 62-41 in games played between their institutions, which includes 34 playoff meetings.  
• Notably, the Big Sky and the MVFC make up two of only three leagues to have two or more playoff teams every year since 1999. 
• From 2014-17, the MVFC and Big Sky combined to produce eight of the 24 teams in the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoff field, while in 2018 the two conferences had a total of seven teams compete. Since the FCS playoffs began in 1978, the two leagues have combined to produce 15 national champions.
• At the conclusion of the 2018 season, it was the Big Sky and MVFC going head-to-head for the NCAA Division I championship title. North Dakota State defeated Eastern Washington, 38-24

2019 Big Sky-Missouri Valley Challenge Schedule
Aug. 29 - Missouri State at Northern Arizona, 6 p.m. PT (Pluto TV)
Aug. 31 - Montana at South Dakota, 2 p.m. CT (MIDCOSN/ESPN+)              
Sept. 7  - Southern Utah at Northern Iowa, 4 p.m. CT
Sept. 14 - Montana State at Western Illinois, 3 p.m. CT    
Sept. 21 - Idaho State at Northern Iowa, 4 p.m. CT
Sept. 21 - Northern Arizona at Illinois State, 6:30 p.m. CT
Sept. 21 - South Dakota at Northern Colorado, 2 p.m. MT (Pluto TV)
Sept. 21 - UC Davis at North Dakota State, 2:30 p.m. CT
Sept. 21 - Southern Utah at South Dakota State, 6 p.m. CT
Sept. 28 - Northern Iowa at Weber State, 6 p.m. MT (Pluto TV)

NAU VS. THE MISSOURI VALLEY SINCE 1990

• The Lumberjacks enter Thursday's season opener vs. Missouri State with a 2-7 record all-time vs. opponents from the Missouri Valley Football Conference dating back to 1990.
• The Bears defeated the 'Jacks 40-8 last season in their most recent action against a Missouri Valley opponent.
• NAU split a pair of games in 2018 vs. MVC foes as it posted a 37-16 victory at home over Illinois State and suffered a 38-20 setback at home vs. Western Illinois.

NAU IN HOME OPENERS

• The Lumberjacks own a record of 77-24-2 in home openers dating back to 1915 (103 seasons) but are looking to snap a two-game skid in the initial game of the season in front of the home crowd.
• NAU have been victorious in 24 of the last 26 home openers with the lone losses coming in each of the last two campaigns.
• In 2017 the 'Jacks lost by a 38-20 margin vs. Western Illinois and in the 2018 home opener 31-26 to Eastern Washington.

NAU IN SEASON OPENERS

• The Lumberjacks own a record of 58-44-2 in home openers dating back to 1915 (103 seasons).
• NAU captured its season opener in 2018 with a 30-10 win at FCS member UTEP on Sept. 1.
• Overall, the 'Jacks have dropped six of their last eight season openers - all but one of which have been against FBS opponents.

THE SKYDOME IS OUR HOME

• Since 2013, the 'Jacks have won 25 of 33 games in the Walkup Skydome and have a total of six games on their home turf this season.
• Overall, the Lumberjacks boast a record of 158-79 in games played at the Skydome since it opened in 1977.
• The Skydome hosted five games in its first season, with an average attendance of 13,029.  NAU football was previously played outdoors on natural grass at Lumberjack Stadium.  The dome hosted the Big Sky men's basketball tournament in 1987, 1997, 1998, and 2006.
• For its first six years, the Walkup Skydome was the world's largest clear-span timber dome, until the completion of the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, in 1983. 
• The architect was Wendell Rossman of Phoenix, also responsible for many other buildings on the surrounding NAU campus. The wood used in construction of Walkup Skydome was southern yellow pine. 
• At its launching in 1977, it was the third indoor football stadium in the Big Sky Conference: Holt Arena at Idaho State in Pocatello opened in 1970 (as the "Minidome") and the Kibbie Dome at Idaho in Moscow was enclosed in 1975.
• The Skydome is named after J. Lawrence Walkup (1914–2002), the president of NAU from 1957 to 1979, a period of tremendous growth for the university.